'90s Music

The 10 Greatest Tracks From The '90s

5. R.E.M., "Drive"

This Athens, Georgia, band released five albums in the '90s, and choosing any one song over another is sure to bring out the haters (speaking of haters, where are Bush, Creed, Soul Asylum, and the Spin Doctors on this list?). From "Losing My Religion" to "Everybody Hurts," and even "The Great Beyond," Michael Stipe et al. showered us with instantly classy classics, in the process soundtracking every sad Gulf or Bosnia War montage. And though my own love for New Adventures in Hi-Fi borders on the obsessive, the song that opens Automatic for the People is the full package: mournful sound, inscrutable but truthy lyrics, and a video that's equally so.

4. Nine Inch Nails, "Closer"

It's easy to underestimate the impact of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral. Building on the '80s sounds of goth and industrial, Reznor here first introduced the techno elements that would ultimately lead him to an obsession with the piano works of Debussy and Satie (and his first Oscar, for The Social Network soundtrack). The sheer ambition and gothic horror of this concept album may have also opened the door to the excesses of Marilyn Manson and, blech, Linkin Park, but it arguably also paved the way for Aphex Twin and even Skrillex.

3. Aaliyah, "Are You That Somebody?"

Though we can imagine the music Kurt Cobain might be making today had he not succumbed to depression (and judging from the work of his peers Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters, it wouldn't be all that, um, innovative), the loss of Aaliyah left us with a greater question mark. First groomed (yuck) by R. Kelly and cultivated by mad talents Timbaland and Missy Elliott, Aaliyah was prepping a collaboration with none other than our No. 3 here, Trent Reznor, whose sonics would have possibly ushered in an age of goth R&B, as much swathed in sex as in fury. Since she left us before she could, all we have are some stone-cold pop classics, of which "Are You That Somebody?" is the slinkiest.

2. Nirvana, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" (Unplugged in New York)

His blue eyes blazing, success and addiction eating away at his stomach and soul, Kurt Cobain in a way staged his own funeral service with Nirvana's appearance on MTV's Unplugged (which had worked miracles for Mariah and Eric Clapton, so why not these grunge kids?). Flanked by white lilies and a string selection, Cobain eschewed the hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for an idiosyncratic selection of tracks and covers, of which this, Leadbelly's version of the blues and bluegrass classic "In The Pines," aches the most. Instead of using a distortion pedal, Kurt here tears through the song until his vocal chords shred, the most primal screaming most of us had ever heard.

1. Tupac feat. Dr. Dre, "California Love"

East Coast vs. West Coast, Bad Boy vs. Death Row, Tupac vs. The Notorious B.I.G.: '90s hip-hop existed under a constant cloud of rivalry, which its two greatest stars would ultimately not survive. In Tupac's case, we are left with endless releases from the vaults, with endlessly diminishing returns. Nothing, though, can take away the the sheer joy of Dr. Dre's luxurious production on "California Love," and 'Pac's almost excessive charm — "bumpin' and grindin' like a slow jam" — makes even the video's Mad Max wasteland feel like the promised land of partying.